Phil Vettel's restaurant reviews

'The Table, Donkey and Stick" is a Grimm fairy tale of magic and revenge, and I will not trouble you with the details (that is what Google is for) except to note that a fable involving a gold-excreting beast of burden is an unusual tie-in for a dining establishment.

Meatballs: Chances are if you lived in Des Plaines, you've spent some time at Oliveti's, the Italian restaurant run by the Ferrazzuolo family. After it closed in 2012, brothers Anthony and Michael looked to continue their family's cooking lineage. Their strategy is to focus on one product:...

Tipping seems like a simple transaction between two parties. You eat at a restaurant, you experience good service, and in a show of gratitude you voluntarily leave the server a bonus $5 gratuity, a monetary pat on the back for a job well done.

I heard from so many of you that you appreciated January's Part 1 of this list. Some have already gone to Shokolad, Susie's Noon Hour Grill and Fennel & Iris and had lovely experiences. It makes me very happy to share my finds with you.

Though restaurant chains have long delighted (and disgusted) us with meat-laden creations like the Wendy's Baconator, a few places are now giving herbivores a reason to smile with new veggie options. We sampled three of these additions: a curry dish, a veggie burger and a flatbread. One of them...

In Mexico, tacos constitute addictively tasty sustenance for the masses. At Antique Taco (1360 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-687-8697), things are different. While the tacos are equally delicious, they range from traditional Mexican to the more eclectic.

Profiteroles del Pirineo: A profiterole, also known as a cream puff, is a traditional French dessert consisting of a choux pastry ball that is filled with whipped cream, custard or, as is common in Americanized versions of the treat, ice cream. But what elevates the profiteroles at Meson...

Pickling, one of the oldest methods of preserving foods, dates to ancient Mesopotamia, according to the New York Food Museum. Christopher Columbus stocked pickles on his voyage to the New World to keep his crew fed and free of scurvy. Sandra Baker, volunteer program director at the Heinz...

Cucumber sakerita: Good luck choosing from the breadth of delicate vegetarian dishes offered at Mana Food Bar. You can nearly travel the globe via your taste buds at this compact restaurant, opting for gyoza (Japanese pan-fried dumplings served with cabbage slaw) or the potato pancake dressed...

Guinness milkshake: The menu of downtown burger bar 25 Degrees actually boasts a lot of boozy concoctions, including spiked sodas (who knew you could make a Shirley Temple dirty?) and adult floats like the Beam 'n' Beer, which is made with Jim Beam bourbon instead of root beer. But you can't...

Finding the motivation to leave your home on nights when the temperature is 10 with a wind chill of minus 2 is next to impossible. Especially when snow — or as it's known in Chicago, gray slush — covers the ground and you remember there are blessed souls who will deliver food...

Wang mandu: Stuffing and steaming. Steaming and stuffing. All day, every day: Stop by the Joong Boo Market in Avondale (aka that Korean market with the big green sign that hovers over the westbound Kennedy, the kind of ancient Chicago signage you see so often that you never actually see it),...

You don't design and build a to-scale replica of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in gingerbread without a particular kind of zeal for butter, flour and sugar. Jeffrey Hallenbeck possesses that zeal. It's the kind of commitment and enthusiasm it takes to get a person out of bed and to work...

How Do You Like Them Apples: Although apples are more commonly associated with autumn, peak season for the versatile fruit extends to early spring. Bar Takito, the West Loop extension of Division Street hot-spot Takito Kitchen, is showcasing an apple-centric cocktail with urbane appeal. Created...

There are some restaurants that defy description. Oh sure, they have tables and chairs, a place where food is cooked and someone to do that cooking. But that's were the similarities sometimes stop and a remarkable experience can begin.